ESOSA THE COSTUME DESIGNER WAS CELEBRATED AS A WINNER OF THE 23RD NAACP THEATRE AWARDS

The 23rd NAACP Black Theatre Awards were recently announced in Los Angeles. ESOSA garnered the 2013 Best Costume Award for By The Way…Meet Vera Stark productions in New York and Atlanta.

ESosa who received at Tony nomination for The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Project Runway was a finalist on both Season 7 and All Stars Season 2. Currently represented on Broadway as the Costume Designer for Motown: TheMusical. (Where he designed over 300 costumes spanning the years from 1938 to 1983). Upcoming projects include Fences directed by Phylicia Rashad and the national tours of The Gershwins Porgy and Bess and Motown: The Musical.

BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK is a seventy-year journey through the life of Vera Stark, a headstrong maid and budding actress in a time when speaking roles for African-American actors were impossible to come by, and her tangled relationship with her boss, a Hollywood star desperately trying to hold on to her career. When Vera lands a groundbreaking role in a new Southern epic, she turns Hollywood on its head and paves the way for future generations of black actresses. Seventy years later, film buffs are left to reflect on the life and legacy of this controversial star, whose eventual fame and fortune may have come at the price of perpetuating dangerous stereotypes.

Other credits include naming a few TOPDOG/UNDERDOG (also London and various regional theatres). Off-Broadway credits include By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Second Stage); Break of Noon (MCC), also Geffen Playhouse; The Capeman (Delacorte); Juan and John; Father Comes Home from the Wars; Romeo and Juliet; The Story and Radiant Baby (Public Theater) Crowns; Birdie Blue and Living Out (Second Stage Theatre). Regional credits include Ruined (Arena Stage); Twist (Alliance); Best of Both Worlds (A.R.T.); American Night (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Fences (Geva Theatre); The Blue Door (Berkeley Rep); Once on this Island (Center Stage); Cuttin’ Up, Senor Discretion Himself (Arena Stage) and Turandot: The Rumble for the Ring; Ain’t Misbehavin’; Pippin and Once on this Island (Bay Street Theatre) Gleam at Centerstage (directed by Marion McClinton) Awards: 2011 Ovation Award for TWIST at Pasadena Playhouse, 2006 TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award and the 2003 Audelco Award for Crowns.

COMPLETE CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2013-2014 SEASON OF THE NATIONAL TOUR

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess

See what Time Magazine exclaims is, “A don’t miss theatre event! The #1 Broadway musical of the year.” Winner of the 2012 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is hitting the road in a stunning and stirring new staging, with a live 23-piece orchestra. It includes such legendary songs as “Summertime,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” and “I Got Plenty of Nothing.” The Gershwins' Porgy and Bessfeatures one of Broadway’s most accomplished creative teams, led by Tony-nominated director DIANE PAULUS (Hair), Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright SUZAN-LORI PARKS (Topdog/Underdog), and two-time Obie Award-winning composer DIEDRE L. MURRAY (Running Man), bringing George and Ira Gershwin’s legendary masterwork to the Broadway stage for the first time in more than 35 years.

Praised by the New Yorker as, “A great achievement!”and hailed by the Associated Press as, “a Gorgeous version of the Gershwin masterpiece,” the classic story of The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess is set in Charleston’s fabled Catfish Row, where the beautiful Bess struggles to break free from her scandalous past, and the only one who can rescue her is the crippled but courageous Porgy. Threatened by her formidable former lover Crown, and the seductive enticements of the colorful troublemaker Sporting Life, Porgy and Bess’ relationship evolves into a deep romance that triumphs as one of theater’s most exhilarating love stories.

This production is part of the Willis Broadway Series. Learn how you can get the best seats at the best prices with Season Tickets.

Des Moines Performing Arts is a private 501 (C) (3) not-for-profit corporation presenting the performing arts to Iowa and the surrounding states. It is the presenter of major Broadway and educational touring companies, performers and groups, and is the performing home of many local and regional groups, including the Des Moines Symphony. Events, dates, times, performers and prices subject to change without notice.